92 



Small Holdings in Hampshire. 



[may, 



and otherwise assisting large farmers, or acting as carters 

 for still smaller holders. One particular man, who 

 commenced with a capital of £300, and bought ten acres of 

 land at £25 per acre, built himself a bungalow costing roughly 

 £150. and now, after three years' hard work, has met all his 

 current liabilities and is independent except that £100 is still 

 owing. This he dees not consider as much of a stumbling-block, 

 and is quite hopeful of freeing himself entirely in the course of 

 another year or so. This man is an expert ploughman, and 

 undoubtedly this has proved of great advantage to him, for 

 without some such employment he might have succumbed 

 under the many disadvantages he has had to put up with. 



I know of no single instance in the county where a man and 

 his family make a living from poultry or bee-keeping alone, 

 although there are numerous instances where one or both of 

 these add very considerably to the weekly returns when 

 considered as supplementary. I have seen many attempts 

 made throughout the county to run both large and small 

 establishments confined to the breeding and rearing of poultry, 

 but in each case the enterprise has had to be abandoned, 

 even when in the hands of men who thoroughly understood 

 their business. One man informed me that his great 

 difficulty was to obtain birds for fattening, and having to 

 purchase these from Ireland, he could not possibly make 

 fattening pay, although in this particular case he had a cold 

 storage plant at his disposal. Another equally expert man in 

 bee-keeping, who devoted the whole of his time to bee-work, 

 including the sale of appliances, was latterly obliged to extend 

 his business in .other directions than that of bee-keeping, or 

 "go to the wall." 



As typical of the class of small holdings which are a partial 

 success, we cannot do better than take the district of Tadley, 

 which is some seven or eight miles from the town of Basingstoke. 

 The nearest station is Bramley, some five miles distant, on 

 the Great Western Line. Here every resident, with few 

 exceptions, is a small holder, the majority, known locally as 

 "Tadley men," being expert at hoeing, and all operations 

 connected with harvesting. As hop-pickers, they leave their 

 homes in the autumn for the hop-fields ; in the spring of the 

 year they engage themselves to do piece work on the larger 



